Hado walks in the starlit desert riverbed, and his excellent night vision allows him to defy the uncertain surroundings. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info has been testing his looted knowledge of astronomical observations since he came out of "Nil-lo", and has discovered that Anderkukod is indeed not fooling him with fake "professionals": he can indeed distinguish the main directional coordinates from the otherwise chaotic starry sky, and use these coordinates to find his way in the desert.

He was looking for a way around "Nil-lo" and towards what the other party called "the place of origin".

This intention lies in his request to Anderkukod, that is, "the bottom line is that the two tribes know each other, and that they must not attack each other, nor provoke each other, divide the clan, or encroach on resources." This is equivalent to the fact that in addition to knowing the existence of the other party, the two sides are in a situation of "old age and death". When Anderkukod heard Hadu's suggestion, he immediately agreed: this may not be the best choice for both sides, but it is the most correct choice in this situation.

With the other party's promise, Hadu doesn't have to worry about the future: the nature of the Egger clan's promise is still very much recognized by Hadu, and the other party will not rashly break the agreement between the two parties without the existence of those who have the ability to predate - and in the case of those who have the ability to predate, they have to think about how to make a new agreement.

According to the wounded in the "Nil-lo" who had been replaced by the war, the "original place" was northeast of the tent area, roughly through the "corridor between the two seas". There are two ways to get around Nil-lo: one is to go south along the riverbed, then divert to the north when there is a river in the northwest direction nearby, and then turn northeast downstream of Nil-lo, and the other is to go south out of the riverbed to the upper reaches of Nil-lo, then go around the east to the rear of Nil-lo, and then go directly to the northeast where the "original place" is located.

In terms of advantages, neither of them has any advantages: detours, unknown environments, and the need to cross the desert. However, comparing the risks, it can be seen that the detour from the back of "Nil-lo" will seem to be shorter, but the risk of being detected is not small (it is not clear if the Iger clan has a heritage of peeking through the environment), and the detour from the west, although the distance is increased, gives Hadu enough way to deal with the risk - if the road really doesn't work, he can still go back.

What made Hadu think even more was how to open up a safe passage through the north and south while avoiding "Nil-lo". Not only will this make it easier for him to explore back and forth in the future, but he will also be able to get the physical goodies that his people can carry back if they are too big for him to move.

He walked through the riverbed, feeling the humidity and wind changes in his surroundings with his skin, so as to sense the location of the northwest river he needed to go, and at the same time observe the starry sky to determine his current position and prevent him from getting lost. As he walked, he noticed that the path that had been diagonally upwards began to wind downward, until he reached a rocky cavern where a considerable amount of wind was blowing out, indicating that there was a large enough opening at the other end of the cave. Hadu observed the structure of the cave, which of course was covered with a thick layer of sand, and the cave itself was a mixture of rock, clay, and hard sand, which at least could withstand the water. The cave twisted so straight down that there was no starlight to be seen, and Hado was only able to pick up some nearby hay, combine it with copper spikes to make a simple torch, and then light it with flint. After all, it was the dry season, and the tributaries that flowed into the cave had dried up completely, and the cave was full of dry gravel and cemented clay, which twisted but not slippery, and Hado's progress was not slow.

After walking about a thousand paces, Hado felt the oncoming wind increase and illuminated the path under his feet with torches, and he found himself in a dry pool of water in the underground river. The environment of the dark river in the desert is very different from that of the grassland: because of the long-term drought on the surface of the land, there is no water in the underground river that will seep down from the roof of the cave, and there will be no stalactites and stalagmites in the caves of the mountains near the grassland.

After the pond, the exit of the cave is not far away - but you need to squeeze through a slightly narrow stone wall. Judging from the location of the stone wall, when the rainy season comes, the water level in this dark river will rise, and when the stone wall gushes out, it is impossible for the outside world to enter the inside of the dark river, in other words, it is impossible to see that there is an underground river in this place from the land. It's a good hideout, and a place to escape danger if Hado encounters an unstoppable force in the desert in the future.

But at this point, danger was imminent.

Hadu had already heard a roar behind him, needless to say, it was the unprovoked and unusual weather again, and this time, it was the sudden appearance of the water. Hadu was experienced in this situation, and he jumped onto the stone wall with a slight leap, slid through the widest space of the stone wall, then turned over and jumped to the ground, landed steadily, and then rushed out of the cave as soon as he leaned over. The water behind him slammed into the stone wall with a deafening bang, and the water splashed so violently that it was only a few steps away from knocking him down—and he dodged it in a thrilling way.

Coming out of the underground river cave, there is a continuous ridgeline arranged in a nearly straight line, and Hadu climbs to the highest point, from which you can vaguely see the area where "Nil-lo" is located, but because it is night, it is not clear that the river in the distance can be seen, but the general direction can still be judged. Continuing along the ridgeline, Hadu found a leeward spot and prepared to spend the night before continuing the next day when the light was full. In this way, Hadu groped his way north along the mountain, eating and sleeping in the open along the way, and on several occasions encountered wild wolves in the desert, but he killed them all. Where there are mountains, there is no need to worry about quicksand or dark river pits, and Hadu didn't encounter too many things to hinder his progress along the way. During the day, he hid as slowly as possible in the shadows of the mountains to prevent sunburn, and at night he ran as quickly as possible on the flat ground at the foot of the mountain, and in addition to hurrying, he could also maintain his body temperature in the desert with low temperatures. Even so, it took Hadu a full month to make it out of the desert and into the lower reaches of "Nil-lo".

This was the first time Hadu saw the sea, so vast, so magnificent, and deeply impressed this person who seemed to have a lot of experience.

The estuary of the "Nil-lo" is also a fascinating sight: the river joins the sea with distinct color zones, and it is not until it reaches a distance of several hundred paces that it gradually merges with the sea. When the wood and blades of grass that flow down with the water upstream to the confluence of the river and the sea, they will first sink to the bottom of the river with the water, and then immediately float up as soon as they enter the sea, which will form a vortex at the confluence and bring up the nearby water bottom. Hadu observed that there were particularly large schools of fish near the confluence of the river and the sea, and it seems that the eddy brought them rich nutrients that kept them reluctant to disperse.

Due to the evaporation of the desert, the amount of runoff that flows into the ocean after passing through the basin for tens of thousands of steps is very small, and there is no way to form a fertile soil suitable for growing rice. There were no people here, so Hadu didn't stay here long, and after recuperating a little and getting enough food and fresh water, he continued to the northeast.

After only two ups and downs, he reached the so-called "corridor between two seas", where the blue water was in his place, and the scenery was indeed red and blood. Hadu walked to the shore of the red sea and tried to stir it with long branches, but found that the red water itself was colorless, except that the substance in it gave it a blood-red color. But if you look at it from a distance, you really feel that this is a pool of blood, which also makes Hadu secretly write down: he once came to the "sea of blood".

Beyond the corridor was a desert, which made Hadu a little worried about his next path. After walking along the seashore for a few ups and downs, he didn't see a single green space, and the fresh water on his body was almost exhausted. Although with his physique, it is not a problem not to eat or drink for half a whole month, but it is definitely not comfortable. Hadu could feel that there was a wide river nearby, and it was strange that he hadn't seen it after walking for so long, which made him feel very wrong. Compared to the desert near "Nil-lo", the evaporation here is even greater, and the further you go, the more salt crystals are in the sand, even to the point where the sand and salt crystals are half and half respectively.

After four more rises and falls, Hadu finally saw a clear spring flowing into the nearby ocean, but when he walked over and tried to drink the water, he found that the water in the river was very bitter and difficult to get into his throat. If you look at it again, you can see that both sides of the river are compacted yellow-brown earth—saline-alkali land with a high salinity. He had no choice but to give up fetching water here for the time being, and instead head upstream to the river.

Beyond a towering sand dune, Hado came to the middle reaches of the river, where the land was less compacted than at the mouth of the sea, and the water was relatively drinkable in salt. Hadu drank his water happily, then took off his clothes, put down his weapons and armor, and took a refreshing bath in the river, which he hadn't properly washed for nearly two months. Once he had finished his assembly, Hadu began to observe his surroundings, and he noticed that there were traces of people in the middle of the area, where they had collected less salt clay, possibly to make pottery. The salt content at the site was still too high, and the possibility of growing crops was low, so Hadu decided to investigate cautiously upstream.

He carefully climbed to the top of a higher peak and looked to the east, and suddenly it became clear to him: a vast array of tents spread out on both sides of the upper river, and from here he could see another river in the distance. Tents stretched out in the valley between the two rivers, and Hado was able to spot several large kilns that were distinctly visible—vaults that were the same as the Iger clan had handed down to the "Shin'ne-Nu". However, the scale of these kilns is larger than that handed down by Sitimud, and it is estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 sand bottles can be made in a single roast, but this should not be enough for the other party: judging from the breadth and width of the tent group, the population of this large tribe should be around one million, so calculating the loss rate of the kilns and ordinary use, these large kilns need to be fully activated to be able to make enough utensils, which must not be made during rainy days and floods.

From the perspective of the peaks, the more you go to the middle and lower reaches of the area, the more sparse the tents become, but this sparseness is different from the density of the "Nil-lo": the tents here are placed indiscriminately in the east and the west three, which Hadu speculates may have something to do with the flooding of the two rivers here during the rainy season. The more obvious the location and cycle of the flooding, as in the case of the main rivers of "Nil-lo" and "Fare", the more fixed the camp established by man, and conversely, if the flooding situation is very unstable, then human beings need to move their dwellings frequently to prevent death when the flood comes.

In addition, Hado observed some anomalies: the tents near the middle and lower reaches looked in disrepair, the keel of the tent had been torn off by the wind and no one was taking care of it, and it was unclear whether it was uninhabited or the people who lived in it were incapable of repairing it. In order to be able to obtain further intelligence information from the other party, Hadu decided to go down the mountain and approach the tent to have a look.

It was only at the foot of the mountain, on the ground at the bottom of the valley, that Hado realized that this place had just experienced a period of flooding. It seems that he arrived not too early or too late, just at the end of the flooding of the two rivers, and at this time the flooded area has not yet returned to clean up the pieces.

Hadu examined the half-toppled tent and found two bodies inside—their terrified faces showed that they had died of drowning, presumably by the flood, and that they had not had time to escape from the tent and that the tents were submerged in the raging floodwaters. Bypassing the tent, Hado could see more tent fragments appearing in the land, as well as household utensils, especially stone and bone blades, scattered around the tent.

There are thousands of houses destroyed by the floods, and it is estimated that the number of people affected by the flood is about 5,000. With so many people having to evacuate to the upper reaches of the river, the widespread impact on cereal cultivation in the event of flooding has led to a significant increase in food consumption upstream. This is a chaotic situation that is very conducive to Hado infiltrating the opposing tribe to spy on the news, but it also increases the difficulty of Hado in identifying the craftsmen who have special technical experience among them.

Having arrived at a human tribe with such a large population, Hado was determined to stay and learn how the other party managed such a large group of people. At nightfall, he lurked in the upper reaches of the human settlements—to say that the voices were still quiet, to be precise, noisy, crowded and chaotic human settlements. The clansmen who fled from the middle and lower reaches were crammed into the relatively dry upper reaches by clan, reducing the per capita housing area from 1,200 square steps per person to 200 square steps per person. This is also true of the facts: the big clans flocked to the heights and encroached on the tents of the small and medium-sized clans, and these clansmen, who were already in a bad mood due to the raging floods, did not hesitate to return the favor, which caused a front-shaped intra-clan fight in the upper heights.

Hadu hid in the crowd, slippery through them, these people were angrily attacking each other, and did not bother to pay attention to Hadu as an outsider. He gradually came to a slightly secluded place in the tent group upstream, which was larger than the others, and presumably the place where the clan chief or some other dignified person lived. Gently ruffling open a corner of the tent, he quickly scanned the inside of the tent - no one was inside, so he lifted the front of the tent and hid behind a wide camel skin in the tent. After a short time, a man who looked like a leader swore and led his men into the tent, and as soon as he sat down, before the cushions were hot, he was plundered by Hado.

It was only then that Hadu fully understood what had happened: the formation of the intra-clan fighting front was not only related to the flood, but also related to the decisions of the great chiefs of the two river basins. In the first few months, the Great Chief of the "Nil-lo", a small group of tribes separated from the Great Tribe of the Two Rivers, actually returned to attack their birthplace, which made the Great Chief very angry, and ordered the clans close to "Nil-lo" to attack. However, the "Nil-lo" was very ferocious in combat, and it did not take long for the encounter to start and crush the troops facing the two rivers. At this time, the flooding of the two river basins began, and the warriors who were wounded in the battle encountered a large flood, and the wounds quickly festered and died, and they approached "Nil-lo" The surviving clan members were emotionally broken due to various stressors, and rushed to the upper reaches of the big clan settlements to vent their anger frantically: anger at the orders of the Great Chieftain, anger at enemy attacks, anger at natural disasters, and anger at the injustice of the gods.

After listening to the relevant account of the leader of this camel's totem totem, Hadu was completely speechless. He also thought that the peoples in the two river basins could have some particularly advanced management methods, but the result was still the same as the original on the grassland, "primitive worship + leader control + proportional distribution of large and small tribes", that is, it was not unified in the actual sense. Not only that, but the clan leader also said that due to the harsh living environment, even though the population of the entire basin is not small, every few rises and falls the clan flees to other places (such as "Nil-lo" in the beginning) - it is really unbearable to bear the negative factors of this place.

Expectations were dashed, and Hado was about to abandon the quest when the chief's description intrigued him again.